Smoking exceptions rankle Tribune readers

Annoyed by the exceptions to St. Joseph CountyÂ?s smoking ban, one Tribune reader offered his opinion in a voice-mail message.

Â?There is no smoking ban,Â? said the man, who didnÂ?t leave his name. Â?I havenÂ?t smelled it anywhere. Everywhere I go, IÂ?m bombarded by secondhand tobacco smoke.Â?

He can smell it in a number of places, including bars, private clubs and restaurants that have received a one-time, two-year extension to allow smoking.

Â?Sounds like once again, big business comes first,Â? he said, adding that he was irritated to see children still exposed to secondhand smoke in some restaurants. Â?Big business Â? ooh, donÂ?t dare let them lose 5 cents worth of business. Who cares if 80 people die of secondhand smoke?

Â?I wish people would please stop writing about a smoking ban,Â? he said. Â?There is no smoking ban.Â?

Sandy Shankle, another Tribune reader, called to blast a County Council vote that would allow employers to provide smoking rooms. The county commissioners must still decide whether to approve the change.

The South Bend woman, whoÂ?s been smoking for almost 45 years, opposes the ban and said she and her husband no longer eat in St. Joseph County restaurants because of it.

Meanwhile, Shankle said sheÂ?s annoyed the council wants to create an exception to the ban that she feels would benefit only some smokers.

If she canÂ?t smoke in a restaurant, she said, then restaurant employees shouldnÂ?t have their own smoking room.

Â?ThatÂ?s favoritism,Â? she said, Â?and itÂ?s not right.Â?

Maybe they wear those masks out of shame

In other smoking ban related bits, it appears the ban isnÂ?t working in parks.

Recently, two Tribune staffers stopped by the playground in Rum Village Park. A shiny new sign declared Â?Smoking Prohibited,Â? but littered around the swingset were cigarette butts.

Unless people who may not be able to read the signs Â? namely small children or raccoons Â? are lighting up in the park, the ordinance doesnÂ?t seem to be working there.

Dance, petitioner, dance!

Call it the Podium Salsa.

After Habitat for Humanity gave a presentation for a tax abatement at Common Council Monday night, council members couldnÂ?t decide what to do next.

Habitat presenter Mike Cochran took about two steps from the podium before council members got sidetracked and started asking questions among themselves about whether the required public hearing took place and if Cochran needed to stay. Cochran repeatedly stepped up and away from the podium, back and forth, as the council tried to figure out what to do.

Â?IÂ?ll be happy to do whatever you tell me to do,Â? Cochran said with a smile and hands outstretched, which was met with laughs from the council and audience.

The council asked Cochran to step down from the podium and granted HabitatÂ?s tax abatement request.

Is this a council meeting or is it an auction?

A packed council chambers usually means more speakers than usual, but Monday nightÂ?s South Bend Common Council meeting was calm.

Anticipating that most audience members were there for privilege of the floor, council President Timothy Rouse, D-at large, asked repeatedly if there were citizens who wished to speak. Each time he asked, another person approached the podium.

Finally, there was a very long pause.

Â?Is there anyone else wishing to speak? Anyone else? Because IÂ?m getting ready to hit this gavel and once I lay this down ...Â? Rouse said with a chuckle.

His light-hearted nudge brought the remaining speakers out of the audience.

WhatÂ?s a little distortion among friends?

Â?Only in your town, and IÂ?m tempted to say only at your newspaper ...Â?

So said Gov. Mitch Daniels on Friday as he expressed his bemusement Â? not amusement Â? over South BendÂ?s interpretation of his recent statements about the cityÂ?s anemic economic development record.

According to Daniels, all he meant to say was that South Bend is too important a city to miss out on IndianaÂ?s growth, and to encourage his target audience Â? Republicans attending an annual pep rally Â? to get to work on development.

Alas, he said, his words were distorted and then used to pit him against a city that he really, really does like.

Really.

Your mission, he continued, is to convey an unambiguously positive message to the city Â? and try not to distort it, would you?

To The TribuneÂ?s best memory then, here is the governorÂ?s message: Â?Happy Mothers Day to all the moms of South Bend.Â?